My solution? Fire myself from laundry duty. Hire kids to do their own. Done! Sounds like the perfect situation, doesn't it? Well, it COULD be if the kids would follow my one laundry room rule: if it isn't in the washer or the dryer, it does NOT belong in the laundry room. But NO! For the past 4 years or so, I have had a tizzy laundry fit at least once a week (certain kids cause more fits than others) when the laundry tornado would hit.
So yesterday, I found a pile of clean wet towels underneath a huge pile of nasty dirty laundry... I immediately made a drastic decision. I am retaking the laundry responsibility and my kids are banned from that room...
I know, you're thinking "but what about your balance journey! Suddenly re-adding 3 teenagers and one 7 year old's laundry (2 have moved away since we moved in) back into my already nutso schedule has to throw you out of balance, right?
Well, yes and no. Right now I am realizing that it is about balance in how I feel. I need to balance the amount of time I feel like Cruella with the amount of time that I actually feel like a nice-ish mother. I decided that my hate for laundry room invasion is way stronger than my hate for actually doing the laundry...
So here are the new rules:
- No kids allowed in the laundry room except to take your clean clothes that I have carefully hung down to your bedroom.
- You have a special day each week that I will do your laundry. If I come to your room to gather the dirty clothes, and they are on the floor instead of the basket, you forfeit your week and will wear dirty clothes (or figure something else out) until your day comes back around.
- You will put your clean clothes AWAY! No exceptions.
How do I enforce this, you ask? GOOD QUESTION!!! But I am determined and it's going to work. I am slowly retaking my house...(notice I said slowly).
Wish me luck!
1 comment:
I agree--I think resigning from the laundry room SOUNDS like a step toward balance, but if it indeed is not (which it apparently IS NOT), then balance for you just might be TAKING OVER AGAIN. I think balance is SUCH a personal thing--what works for someone else may not work for you--what you care about most may not be such a big deal to someone else. So it really needs to be about what makes YOU feel balanced. I love your thought about FEELING balanced.
I love your laundry rules. I do the same thing--come up with rules that should be simple and clear, but enforcing them is so hard and frustrating sometimes. You're right--what architect makes a 4500 sq-ft house WITHOUT a laundry room to die for?! Laundry is a huge part of life. Hello!
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